Raphael Kang .com

I haven't updated in a while though I've tried to update the sections everyday.

I also started a separate blog that deals with my dating / relationship life, that I realized isn't appropriate here. I've also made a few sections "private" like "My Expenses," "My Grades," after speaking with some advisors at NYU.

I've been in NYC for 2 months now. I love it here.

I've get asked the question, "Why did you move from Berkeley? Why did you move from California" everyday.

My honest answer is that I wanted a restart. I wanted to start over. I wanted to leave my past behind and start anew. I wasn't happy with how and where my life was going.

I've lived in LA and the Bay Area for years. I wanted to move to a place that's just as big, just as much opportunities, just as diverse, just as interesting. I was left with only one choice - New York City.

Alyse is the person that exposed me to NYC. She told me that I'll love it here. It's interesting to note that though she lives 20 minutes away now, we don't talk.

I still can't believe I'm here. I find myself at Barnes & Noble, looking at postcards of NYC, and I think to myself, "This place is beautiful." And I realize... "I'm here."

It's interesting to get lost in the middle of NYC and look for the Empire State Building to use it as a compass. It's also interesting to get lost around Columbus Circle and realize you're one block away from the Trump

International Hotel, the Time Warner Building, and Central Park. How cool is that.

Moving to NYC was not simply to pursue my studies or career. It was much bigger than that... I needed to move here. Though I can rationalize it all day, my decision to move to NYC wasn't all-logical. I felt a deep need to move. I needed a radical change in my life.

It was just as instinctive as it was logical. I just knew.

I wanted to note... at times, my blog is very ego-centrical. "I decided this, I did that, I think that, I realized that." What I fail to mention... is that I'm not possible without my parents. I am who I am because of my parents, and also because my parents have been supportive in EVERYTHING that I've been doing. When I dropped out of school for a semester, therefore forfeiting, my application to the Haas Business School, my parents didn't object. When I decided to move to NYC / NYU, my parents didn't object. They trust me with everything, even though they disagree with me. They have allowed me to make my own decisions and own up to them; yet when I fail, they're there to pick me up and allow me to start over.

...

That's all I want to say for now.